Bullet train ticket will be costlier than airplane's: Rahul Gandhi in London

Taking a dig at the Modi government's ambitious bullet train project, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the train's ticket will be costlier than that for an airplane. "The bullet train is not moving. You can have a fancy poster of bullet train, but the cost of a ticket in bullet train is more than an airline ticket," Gandhi said during his interaction with the Indian Journalist Association in London.

"If we were offered the bullet train money by the Japanese, our response would be, give us the money and help us strengthen Indian railway infrastructure," Gandhi said. 

Also reiterating his stand on the Doklam stand-off, Gandhi again alleged that the "Chinese are still in Doklam". He also said that India have serious challenges coming from China and should to focus on that. However, he declined to reveal information discussed at the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs which looked into the Doklam standoff. 

Responding to a question on the issue, Gandhi said, "Chinese troops are still in Doklam and have built massive infrastructure there. The Prime Minister went recently to China and didn`t discuss Doklam with them. The Prime Minister went there without agenda. Somebody comes here, slaps you on your face and you have a non-agenda discussion."

On being asked if he could throw light on the Doklam report since he was part of the Parliamentary Committee and had an interaction with the Foreign Secretary, Gandhi said, "It is a tricky question because I can`t say. I am bound by Parliamentary privilege; can`t say what was in the report. But I can say that we had a conversation with the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary on Doklam. And what was said in that room, cannot be said outside."

The 19-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs is headed by Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor.

He also said that people support populist leaders like US President Donald Trump and PM Modi because they are angry over not having jobs. Gandhi said that instead of solving the problem, these leaders ride on that anger and damage the country. "People support populist leaders like Mr Trump and Mr Modi because they are angry that they don't have a job. Instead of solving this problem these leaders ride on that anger. They damage the country by this," he said.

Stepping up his attack on the BJP and the RSS, Rahul said that there is "a lot of similarity between Muslim Brotherhood and RSS. They use democratic processes to capture power".

He further said, "When Rajiv Gandhi introduced computers to India, they mocked him. A BJP leader said he doesn't understand that computers have nothing to do with India. The same person now makes speeches on how brilliant computers are."